Dear editor,
I am disappointed to see that there are some people who are so afraid of change that they are resorting to nasty, unfair campaign tactics.
We in B.C. are fortunate enough to be holding a referendum on electoral reform, giving us a chance to update our voting system, to catch up with most other western democracies.
Fair Vote Canada has developed a Fact-Checker website (https://prorepfactcheck.ca) that gives very good information on many of the claims that are being made about proportional representation, as well as our current first-past-the-post system. Each claim is addressed on a scale of “true – mixed T/F – false” with a clear and readable analysis.
The Fact-Checker website was attacked and shut down not once but twice in the first few days of its existence.
Why would any person or group resort to this dirty trick? I can only think that they didn’t want people to find out how opponents of prop rep are trying to mislead us. Did they not want voters to better understand the choice that will be before them at the end of October? Why not? What are they afraid of?
This referendum should be won or lost on the merits of the case. Dirty tricks and the spreading of false information in order to misdirect voters only serve to make us all more cynical about politics in general.
When the referendum ballot arrives in my mailbox, I will be voting in favour of proportional representation.
Wendy McNiven
Courtenay